Negril - OT: Not Exactly Another Trip Report, Into the Great Morass...

[rudemonk]

Re: Negril - OT: Not Exactly Another Trip Report, Into the Great Morass...

no DVD on this one, M, lol...

Okay so here are some more shots yanked from the DV, so the quality is not that terrific...

A very good friend of mine, refusing to go into the great Morass. This is Eddie, we've been through thick and thin, so for him to just flat out refuse to head in, caused some second thoughts to creep in. Maybe this was not such a good idea. What is back there?



So we meet up with Slice and head around the pile of crushed rock and onto the Sunrise property.




Each of the rooms in Sunrise have a unique decor. Some of it is pretty interesting, considering it's all sculpted with concrete.

So we start heading back. We go past the restaurant area, which, did I mention has real wood furniture? I did? Okay...

Well now we are moving into a part of the property I didn't even know existed. The whole front of the property is the hotel/bar deal, and the back is still in possession of the family, and they have it rented out to people. Many people who work in the area have a spot back there.

[rudemonk]

Re: Negril - OT: Not Exactly Another Trip Report, Into the Great Morass...

It's a little creepy. There aren't even any roosters.

Even the dogs seem too tired to bark, or it is just too bizarre for them to think we're real.



I knew exactly how he felt. I wished I was laying in *my* bed. Our passing barely registered on his radar screen, and when I first saw him my spider sense went ballistic, not all dogs are sweet, and it was obvious what his purpose was.

I think he got fired.

So we move on, after letting sleeping dogs lie, and now we start to get into the thick of things.

This almost made me turn back.



Probably not blood...but...we're drunk, sort of, it's uber late...big day ahead of us...who wants to see some mysterious red stuff splattered all around?

Before we could really decide the real path back into the Morass starts.


As we start in, we come up to these concrete slabs and bricks that are sort of sunk into the earth. I was like, how odd. Then I stepped into Morass and instantly understood their purpose.



Here is a better shot of the ingredients used to make way...



So now we are definitely in the thick of things. No tree frogs, but there are other noises. Slurpy sort of noises.

We go on. Maybe I should have taken Eddie's machette, but I knew he had to go to Grange Hill, and they were throwing trees into the road at that time robbing...all I would probably have to fight off back here were mosquitoes and crabs. Then again, he wouldn't come back here.

We come across a bent palm tree...



and we notice a blocky shape coming up, which turns out to be a boat, canabalized for parts I guess...

[rudemonk]

Re: Negril - OT: Not Exactly Another Trip Report, Into the Great Morass...

More and more things are starting to shed the fog and appear. Watery noises are being carried...they don't seem to have an origination point, and I'm somehow reminded of foggy mornings on the Great South Bay of Long Island...fog makes audio weird.

Here is another murky boat.



Apparently there is a little spot back here where the fisherman gather to work on their boats, as there is like a sargasso sea of boat husks and parts.

We also see that some of the land is staked out.



So somebody is back here on the semi-regular, controlling parts of the Morass and planting.

Where there are boats, there must be water...so where is it?

Well we follow the path along and soon hit it.

Here are some traps.



Slice thought it would be funny if we climbed in and took a picture of us. I was like, yeah riiiiiiiiiiggggght....so then you climb in and I'll take the picture.

Another shot of the traps:


Fishing boat.

[rudemonk]

Re: Negril - OT: Not Exactly Another Trip Report, Into the Great Morass...

So we are now sort of skirting the river a little bit...and now we need to find a good spot to catch the sun...

here are just some shots of the area as we were looking around.



Slice starts singing...


He makes much better pizza than Pavarotti impersonations, lol...actually my man can drop some lyrics, believe it or not. They are mostly all about making pizza, which he literally LOVES to do.

We see a good spot, and cross over the next bridge, which we nostalgically called, The Williamsburgh. We'd been in JA for over a month, so we were slightly home sick.




It's getting lighter, and the lighting conditions are playing havoc with my camera, I can hear the iris going nuts adjusting.



A glow starts to rise up...





Slice starts telling us about the uses of the river, in his best croc hunter...

[rudemonk]

Re: Negril - OT: Not Exactly Another Trip Report, Into the Great Morass...

Some kind of birds, completely uninterested in us...



I half suspected they were dinosaurs.

Starting to see a nice glow. I am wondering if David's mom has started squeezing oranges over at Shamrock. It gave me comfort to know I wasn't the only whacko up right now.




After fog man freaked us a little, another guy passed through. I guess he was one of the people who had staked out a section of the solid land.



How they found out what was solid and what was not, I'm not too sure? Long sticks?

He farmed yams, and we affectionately called him "Pitchfork."



Another couple of shots of the Williamsburgh. We kept crossing it, for several reasons. One, we couldn't believe it supported our weight. Two, we weren't sure where we could get the best shots.



Nothing was nailed down.



Very dramatic shifts in the lighting.



Something is happening...

[rudemonk]

Re: Negril - OT: Not Exactly Another Trip Report, Into the Great Morass...

Down by the river...



We kept hearing things slip into the water.

Or break the surface.

[rudemonk]

Re: Negril - OT: Not Exactly Another Trip Report, Into the Great Morass...

Another Pterydactyl...



And finally, the moment we were waiting for...after all that glowing and threatening to be missed, it was just there...









through a stand of bamboo...



So now, sufficiently shut up by the Sunrise, we start to turn away and head back out.

Now that we can actually see what we came through, we alternated through our thoughts, sometimes thinking we were nucking futs, and then other times saying, oh this wasn't so bad.

Just to dispel any illusions we might have developed in the face of the advice we were given, "DO NOT GET OFF THE PATH" we decided to test the advice.

I hurled a 20lb chunk of rock into the muck. This time it was light out. The first rock, maybe we just lost it in the darkness. Now, we could track it and see if it got sucked into the morass.



It went buh-bye.

[hannahcommunications]

Re: Negril - OT: Not Exactly Another Trip Report, Into the Great Morass...

Monk those shots are abosultely eery and beautiful at the same time. What a departure from the images we're use to. One island, so many different personalities.

I can't decide which shot I like best for my screen saver. I thought the golden sunrise was moving, but now I think I'll try these eery fog shots for a while...suits my mood.

Thanks!

[hannahcommunications]

Re: Negril - OT: Not Exactly Another Trip Report, Into the Great Morass...

double post

[Jamaicamiss]

Re: Negril - OT: Not Exactly Another Trip Report, Into the Great Morass...

Geez, I even like the rock hurling pic! An mi hafta agree, it nice fi see a different scene from Ja.

[geocox]

Re: Negril - OT: Not Exactly Another Trip Report, Into the Great Morass...



MR. Monk If your there in late November when I’m there; if you want another trip, I am going with you.
We were at Chippewa about 8 months ago and the look as you can see is considerably different from our balcony. John said there was a path from in back of the Pool. Geo

[rudemonk]

Re: Negril - OT: Not Exactly Another Trip Report, Into the Great Morass...

I like what he did with the joint...the whole buddha groove thing obviously resonated with me, lol...decent pizza too...never knew he had a pool.

Sure I'd go back there again, I have a much better camera now and have learned to wear pants in the heat, lol...a path from Chip to the river bend, that would be a hike. we'd probably lose weight from loss of blood, heh heh heh, so if it's all the same let's do it from Sunrise.

Looks like you could catch some nice sunrises from your balcony too...

Hey did you look into that comp school in Negril?

[geocox]

Re: Negril - OT: Not Exactly Another Trip Report, Into the Great Morass...

oops. PM